Facebook probed in Germany over data
Print Edition
GERMANY’S cartel office is investigating Facebook for suspected abuse of market power over breaches of data protection laws in the first formal probe of the social network for violating competition rules.
The watchdog said it suspected that Facebook’s terms of service with its users regarding how the company makes use of its data may abuse the company’s possibly dominant position in the social networking market.
Facebook, the world’s biggest social network with 1.6 billion monthly users, earns revenues from advertising based on data it gathers about its users’ social connections, opinions and activities in their postings.
“For advertising-financed Internet services such as Facebook, user data are hugely important,” Federal Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt said.
The cartel office said it had considerable doubts about whether Facebook users had been properly informed about how their data were used, which it said could violate stringent German data protection laws.
“There is an initial suspicion that Facebook’s conditions of use are in violation of data protection provisions,” the regulator said in a statement announcing the probe.
Facebook is nearly twice the size of the world’s second-largest social network, Tencent’s QQ of China. Nearly 84 percent of Facebook’s members are outside the United States and Canada.
The company has faced strong criticism from politicians and regulators in Germany, where data protection is regulated, over its privacy practices.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg visited Berlin on a charm offensive last week.
“We are confident that we comply with the law and we look forward to working with the Federal Cartel Office to answer their questions,” a Facebook spokeswoman said yesterday.
The regulator said it was investigating whether Facebook abused its market power by failing to adequately inform its users of the scope and nature of data collection on their Internet surfing habits.
Facebook owns four of the top social network services including its core profile service, two separate instant messaging services, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and its picture-sharing service Instagram.
The German cartel office is taking the lead in the case while advising the European Commission and competition regulators in other EU states.
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